I have been blessed in being able to see many beautiful parts of this country and this world. I have been all up and down the East Coast, from Maine to Miami, all the way over to Key West (several times, two of which I drove from Delaware)! I have been to 4 Super Bowls in Phoenix, Dallas, Indianapolis and New Orleans and got to see my favorite team of all time, the NY Football Giants, beat Tom Brady and the Patriots not once, but TWICE.
I have gone west to Denver, Las Vegas, San Fran, Seattle and L.A. and have even been to the beautiful lake town of C’ouer de Alene, Idaho and there was not one potato field in sight. I have gone south to Texas and Arizona. I have been to Chicago once but can’t wait to go back. I haven’t seen much of the Midwest but I still have time.
I have been all over the amazing countries of Italy and Luxembourg and throughout parts of Germany, Belgium and France. I have been to the islands of St. Lucia, Bahamas, Grand Cayman and Turks & Caicos but no place is as beautiful as the great island chain of Hawaii.
I’m going to share each of the epic adventures I have had and all of the fantastic people I have met along the way. Come along on my fantastic carpet ride of travels and new experiences.
SEATTLE
A seaport city in the Pacific Northwest, one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. and full of hidden gems amongst the hills and water. Seattle is a place I always thought would be cool to visit, but didn’t have the chance to actually go until I was afforded the opportunity by my job to attend the SMX Advanced conference, which I highly recommend for any SEO and SEM nerds like myself.
Upon arriving at the airport (Sea-Tac for those in the know), the ‘App Rideshare Area’ was confusing AF and a total shitshow upon finally finding the damn thing. You actually have to walk across the skybridge to the parking garage and follow the App Rideshare signs, and then follow to your respective Uber or Lyft designated location. Upon arriving, you will find lots of confused travelers like myself wondering why we are all being corralled inside a parking garage trying to find our Uber and every single Uber driver is in a Prius. I almost got run over, twice, so it was definitely not as safe. I implore you Sea-Tac, rethink that layout and maybe allow Uber parking in a separate pickup location outside like the other airports do. Just a suggestion.
Luckily that was just a minor blip on the radar of my epic trip out west. Upon arriving at my hotel, I was greeted by kind and friendly faces everywhere I turned. I had a waterfront view of Elliott Bay, which is so incredibly serene and beautiful. It immediately soothed my soul. I highly recommend coming here to anyone who needs an escape from their daily grind, and a reminder of how beautiful life is.
I got to attend a great networking event for like-minded digital marketing professionals like myself at the Olympic Sculpture Park, which was cool and unexpected to walk through. From the top of the stairs you can see Olympic Mountain, in all its beauty. I met a super cool chick from Salt Lake City, UT that became my buddy for the trip. We enjoyed the conversation, the empowerment and the yummy food and wine at this event, and went on to have a great conference. We walked away with new ideas and a new friendship, and I will most definitely be calling her on my next trip out west.
While I was there, I got to eat at Anthony’s Fish Bar and Ivar’s, both of which were fantastic and I will post more pics of under Food. We went to Mo Pop and took in the sci-fi, horror and fantasy exhibits and played Geeks Who Drink. The sun came out on Wednesday and oh what a glorious day it was. The sun came out in Seattle most of the day! I know it was my Mom and Nan shining down on me, letting me know it was ‘all good baby, baby’ (cue Biggie…)
I went to the top of the Space Needle and saw spectacular views of downtown Seattle, the Cascade Mountains, Lake Union and Elliott Bay, the whole surrounding area was gorgeous. Mt Rainier wasn’t visible today but it didn’t even matter. Seattle you did me good. Thank you for the memories.
XoX,
Avril